There are many types of leafy plants that can be ingested by humans. Many of these plants are eaten as seasonings for other foods, or in the case of tobacco, are ingested by smoking. Typically, when a leaf is utilized as a seasoning or is smoked, the leaf must first be dried and then ground to small sized particles.
There are many methods of grinding a dried leaf. Before the advent of mechanical devices a dried leaf was simply crushed in a person's hand. Though partially effective, the hand method was time consuming, unclean and was unable to provide consistency in the size of the ground leaf particles.
Mechanical devices, both powered and not powered, are effective for grinding a dried leaf. Unfortunately, most mechanical devices are dimensioned for use in a kitchen or other stationary environment. In order to use a mechanical grinding device, the dried leaves must be brought to where the device is located. For many applications this approach is impractical. For example, many smokers prefer to use fresh, recently-ground tobacco in their pipes or rolled into cigarettes.
Obviously, what is needed is a relatively small device, such as hand-held/pocket-sized, dried leaf grinder that can provide well-ground, consistency-sized leaf particles. A significant benefit would be to include a means of storing the ground particles in a container that is integral with the leaf grinding mechanism. In this manner, a person could grind dried leaves at anytime and any place, and then store and carry a quantity of the recently ground leaves for future use.
A search of the prior art did not disclose literature or patents that read directly on the claims of the instant invention. However, the following U.S. patents are considered related.
U.S. Pat. No.INVENTORISSUED4,139,161Hupperich13 Feb. 19794,135,672Schlesser23 Jan. 19794,026,490Johansson31 May 1977
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,139,161 patent discloses a two-piece container and grinder combination. The container has an upward-projecting cylindrical post having outward-extending grinding teeth. The cap is adapted to fit rotatably to the container and has two sets of teeth which cooperate with the teeth on the cylindrical post to grind the ingredients from the container as the ingredients pass from the container between the teeth.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,135,672 patent discloses a grinding mill for coffee beans and the like including a receiver for the articles to be ground. The mill has at least one passageway for gravitationally passing the articles, a rotative discharge member beneath the receiver for discharging the ground material, and grinding means for communicating between the passageway and the discharge member.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,026,490 patent discloses a spice or pepper mill having a portion adapted to fit the opening of a commercial spice jar. The spice is kept in the jar and is dispensed by holding the jar upside down and rotating the housing relatively thereto.
For background purposes and as indicative of the art to which the invention relates, reference may be made to the following remaining patents found in the search:
U.S. Pat. No.INVENTORISSUED  197,982Seifert, et al11 Dec. 1877  210,837Chalas17 Dec. 18782,479,151Bostick16 Aug. 19492,688,448Lenz 7 Sep. 19542,763,440Johnson18 Sep. 19563,130,927Schmieding 28 Apr. 19643,136,491Posmanter 9 Jun. 19643,633,834Nissen11 Jan. 19723,827,641Andersson 6 Aug. 19743,991,947Schlessel16 Nov. 19764,304,363Atkielski 8 Dec. 1981